8 YEARS AND 3 INVITATIONS

Dear Friend,

Thank you for eight incredible years of The Janus Adams Show! ?Inspired by your listening, your letters, critiques and kudos, it’s been my joy and privilege to share this offering.

Launched in 2016—that fateful presidential campaign year—I wanted to do a show that would nurture our spirits.? I needed to do a show that would fuel us for the days.? Sound ideas, in every sense of the term, I wanted to deliver unique voices on the subject of race—every race—and courage; a show worthy of you.? Invited to be a guest speaker at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (site of the original Woodstock Festival), an interview was booked with Jason Dole, program director at WJFF Radio Catskill.? Reading my bio, he noticed I’d been NPR’s first National Arts Correspondent.?

“Might you be interested in...” “Yes, yes I would,” I said.? We partnered to produce the show, I then launched the podcast, and the rest is eight years and counting.... ?

I love the fact that one critic dubbed my work “vitamins for the soul.”? May each episode be a dose for your day. Eight years later and counting, the show’s range and relevance surprises even me! Guests from 8 to 80 and beyond have included children—rarely asked or listened to—reflecting on book bans and their right to read, think, and learn. “Mark Twain” made a guest appearance: 151 years-old and pithy as ever on the politics of his day—and ours.?

There were unpredictable moments: a near-suicide, an outburst into song; a guest who—piercing the veil of professorial reserve—took us on a tearful journey to the heart of his scholarly practice and the joy of planning the dinner he’d cook to share with his wife that night.

Here then, just for you is my first-ever roundup of a year in the life of The Janus Adams Show complete with linked playlist.? It’s also a first-ever appeal for your support to help keep this public radio show and podcast going—and growing.

INVITATION #1: JOIN THE CONVERSATION LISTEN to the podcast on Apple, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher or your favorite podcast channel and please leave a comment.? Your thoughts are important to us.? And, please SUBSCRIBE! Your "vote" matters.???

#1: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Over the past few weeks:?

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Master photographer CHESTER HIGGINS guided us along his decades-long quest to the source of the SACRED NILE. ? En route, there was a rarely seen portrait of Appalachia―Black Appalachia—as lived by William H. Turner, coal miner's son, author of the memoir, THE HARLAN RENAISSANCE: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns. ? Hollywood A-Lister, master image-maker/protecter RAMON HERVEY II let us in on THE FAME GAME: An Insider's Playbook for Earning Your 15 Minutes. With scholars under siege from wrong-wing ideologues, PhDs DIANA HERNANDEZ and SHEILA WALKER took us behind the headlines into the world of SCHOLARS & SCHOLARSHIP—what they do and why we should care. And, BEFORE YOU GO, Nicole Franklin and Bryant Monteilh’s podcast series, opened our ears to what it means to be an American by interviewing those who know more about the subject than most of us ever will—centenarians.???

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From its start, this year promised to be Tryin’ Times, as Roberta Flack would sing.? Where to turn??

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DANCING IN THE DARKNESS: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times brought us Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III.? As he leads his congregation through crisis after crisis, duly stressed, he’s taught a lesson in joy by his 6-year daughter—a life lesson to lift us all.???

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CONGRESSMAN RITCHIE TORRES was in the room where it happened on January 6th when insurrectionists stormed the Capitol.? His concerns: ghosts guns, ghosts of the confederacy, and getting the job done.

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With 60th anniversary commemorations of the March on Washington (I marched with my mom), I was honored to be featured in the Washington Post’s oral history retrospective and asked to share my “10 Life Lessons” learned that day on Christianity Today.? Among my takeaways: “Women must speak as leaders.” The Civil Rights Women spoke for the rights of Black women, but the women did not speak for the Movement.?

On the show, KEISHA N. BLAIN gifted us Fannie Lou Hamer―Mississippi sharecropper-turned-freedom fighter, Movement icon who rocked the 1964 Democratic National Convention―in her own words:? “You are not free whether you are White or Black, UNTIL I AM FREE.”?

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Where and when we enter #CiteBlackWomen.? “I write for the ancestors,” says The Washington Post’s DeNEEN L. BROWN, REPORTER. Beyond scorecards and choosing sides, how do we put the Israeli-Palestinian crisis into context?? It’s about SETTING THE CLOCK, says Laura Flanders—host of American Public Television’s The Laura Flanders Show “where the people who say it can't be done take a backseat to the people who are doing it.”? A clock that didn’t begin on October 7 or even in 1948, but with this man, Pope Alexander VI, on May 4, 1493.?

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INVITATION #2: SUPPORT OUR MISSION?

Have a comment?? Talkback here.

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#2: SUPPORT OUR MISSION

So, how do we frame the stories we tell???

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With the daily pile-on of assaults to our sense of decency, dignity, and fundamental human rights, I’ve been hearing Maya Angelou’s call-to-action in the wake of “9/11”: “Now is the time for thinking people to think.”? In need of fuel for thought, something told me you might be, too.?

Curating our archive, we brought you 12 shows they don’t want you to hear about 12 things they don’t want you to know.

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Mother’s Day took us behind-the-scenes and tears of daughter-mom-activist-author JODIE PATTERSON’S BOLD WORLD crusade to keep her transgender son unscathed by bigotry―and alive!??

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When “the system” savages two teens, their mom decrees JUSTICE FOR JULISSA AND JAMELIA; forcing elected officials to confront their complicity.

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With America simultaneously burying and reviving its segregationist past of White mobs torching Black communities; killing and displacing thousands, filmmaker Dawn Porter resurrects and re-humanizes its victims.? RISE AGAIN: Tulsa and The Red Summer.

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Political geographer Reece Jones takes us beyond the anti-immigration rhetoric of WHITE BORDERS where NO ONE IS PROTECTED.

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Grandson of World War II’s Jewish Holocaust in Europe, Japanese-American internment in U.S. concentration camps, and an Asian-American officer embattled on two fronts, Lucas Maehara Rotman’s DEAR MIKI adds unexpected complexity to the blockbuster buzz surrounding OPPENHEIMER, “Father of the Atomic Bomb” dropped on Japanese civilians.

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Sixty years after White Supremacist bombs killed “Four Little Girls” at church (and two Black boys at play) that hate-filled Birmingham day, THE FIFTH LITTLE GIRL, “soul survivor” Sarah Collins Rudolph tells her story.

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When U.S. government-backed Dakota Access Pipeline proponents wreaked havoc on Indigenous peoples, Mexica/Otomi photographer Josué Rivas was at STANDING ROCK, STANDING STRONG.??

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Environmental attorney Barbara Freese’s INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH DENIAL brought us “stories of corporations defending the indefensible.”

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Carol Anderson focused on gun rights and wrongs with THE SECOND.

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NY Times #1 Bestseller Clint Smith’s travelogue to sites of memory (and infamy) decoded HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America.

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And, where do we go from here?? Solomon Jones’ TEN LIVES, TEN DEMANDS: Life and Death Stories, and a Black Activist's Blueprint for Racial Justice seems a good start.

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We honored the 75th anniversary of International Human Rights Day with this bonus 2-part episode.? Partnering with the NY Department of Economic Development’s “I?NY” we produced a six-part travelogue.? We featured AMERICAN SANCTUARY, a 19th century sanctuary city as 21st century South American asylum-seekers seek refuge, and traveled to Susan B. Anthony’s home where she was arrested for “voting while female.” Demanding change on gender and race, said she: NO GOING BACK.

And with all this, we made time for joy―#BlackJoy―and wonder, as artist Andrea “Philly” Walls reminds us.? Envisioned as “borderless refuge,” she gives us online digital installations with her MUSEUM OF BLACK JOY.

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Seeing “joy is a form of resistance” and “a source of power,” scholar/coach DR. PAMELA LARDE, THE JOY WHISPERER powered our spirits to higher ground.?

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Chloe Dulce Louvouezo says it all with the title of her revelation of a podcast and book, LIFE, I SWEAR.

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Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, its undisputed global impact and influence as a cultural force, SPEECH SPEAKS OUT.

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Talk about swimming with the sharks! Two elite swimmers, aged 82 and 76, defy tides of ageism and racism. TEAM DREAM, a film made possible by the Queen (Latifah) Collective and P&G sponsorship.

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Five sisterfriends join me for a two-part SISTAFEST! inspired by my book, SISTER DAYS.? I decided to host a conversation about herstory, heritage, hope, and home. But, the dam bursts when we start talkin’ hair.

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When Farm Arts Collective at Willow Wisp Farm in Damascus, PA returned me to my playwriting roots,? WJFF Radio Catskill suggested an on-air open rehearsal of the staged reading: ST. STEPHEN: A PASSION PLAY.?

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We explored the art and craft of historytelling with illustrator David Lester and historian Marcus Rediker (on his third visit to the show).? PROPHET AGAINST SLAVERY Benjamin Lay: A Graphic Novel

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Frederick Joseph—author and master-marketer, Forbes “30 Under 30” lister. His #RentRelief COVID19 campaign raised $2 million dollars in aid. His #BlackPantherChallenge gave 75,000 children worldwide free tickets to the film and the COURAGE TO DREAM.????

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Thankful for another year, 2023’s full-out Hallelujah! was our annual replay of SOULFUL CELEBRATION: Handel’s Messiah with commentary by musician Darryl Tookes who sang in that room where it happened, with Quincy Jones and an all-star chorus.? As one grateful listener wrote, “Oh you Black Americans. Only you would think to take one of the hardest choir/group songs ever written and make it harder...and so much better!”

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To close out Black History Month, we rebroadcast GLORY DAYS-IN-CONCERT—a history of African America in word and song from history’s dawn to the age of Obama rooted in my book, GLORY DAYS.

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And, with all of this, here’s to new songs to sing and shows to share; vitamins for your soul. ? On this Harriet Tubman Day—commemorating the date of her death, May 10, 1913—join us in tribute to this shero-if-ever-there was with two shows: HARRIET TUBMAN: BEYOND LEGENDARY taped on-location at her home in Auburn, New York and THE SPIRIT OF HARRIET TUBMAN with my guest, SPRING WASHAM.??

THE JANUS ADAMS SHOW airs and streams live Saturdays at 11:00 am ET on WJFF Radio Catskill, www.WJFFRadio.org.

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Download more than 150 podcast episodes of “The Janus Adams Show,” on Apple or your favorite podcast channel.

INVITATION #3: DONATE

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What a year.? What a journey.? I’m thrilled that we were able to produce these programs for you.? It’s been inspiring to receive your notes and to read your messages online.? Indeed, one of our recent social media posts has just peaked 1.8 million views.? So, that’s a definite sign that there’s much to talk about – with many more shows to come.

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As ever, we so appreciate hearing from you.? As our fans, you are our best ambassadors.? What is your favorite show this season? Is there anything you didn’t like?? Is there something you want more of? Do you have a show idea? Let us know what you think by responding here.?

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Personally, this is so gratifying: 37 shows aired and counting.? “Race and courage”; that’s the show’s mandate—and OMG do we need it now!? We also need your support to continue to bring you a range of perspectives: the voices of people from whom we can’t get enough and of neighbors from whom we hear too little.?

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BECOME A DONOR, THEN JOIN ME FOR A VERY SPECIAL DONORS-ONLY LIVE Q&A IN THE COMING WEEKS.??

All donations to THE JANUS ADAMS SHOW are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.? If you know someone who might be interested in supporting our work, please do not hesitate to forward this email or to let us know here

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